Domestic household expenditure on food and clothing has come down significantly, while their spending on health, education, transport and communication has improved, an Assocham study has found.

Domestic household expenditure on food and clothing has come down significantly, while their spending on health, education, transport and communication has improved, an Assocham study has found.

Of their total income, the percentage expenditure on health trebled to 12 per cent in 2005-06 from 4 per cent in
1999-2000 while the spendings, as percentage of total income, on food declined to 40 per cent in fiscal 2005-06 from 52 per cent six years ago, the study said.

Expenditure on education, almost trebled to 15 per cent in 2006 from 5.5 per cent of their total income in 1999-2000. Transport and communication is another major area, where household doubled their expenditure to 25 per cent of their total income from 12.97 per cent earlier.

"The rising income levels coupled with increased awakening have led to more spending by household on healthcare, education and transport and communication, which reflects the improvement in the living standards particularly the middle class," Assocham President Anil K Aggarwal said.

The expenditure on fuel for the period under review also increased more than two-fold at 8.05 per cent of the total income as against 3.64 per cent six years ago.

On clothing, the expenditure from their total earnings came down to 5 per cent from 10 per cent while on intoxicants like tobacco and paan it came down to 0.48 per cent from one per cent, the study said.

The cost of electricity has gone up along with greater consumption of electrical goods as more and more number of people are using electrical gadgets.